Parents of TCNJ student killed in crash sue driver and campus bar

EWING — The parents of a 20-year-old college student who was killed last month while acting as a designated driver are suing the campus bar that served the driver of the other car.

College of New Jersey student Michael Sot was driving five friends on in the early hours of Dec. 2 when David Lamar V, 22, slammed into his car head-on. The crash seriously injured all the passengers.

Prosecutors have charged Lamar with vehicular homicide and assault by auto, saying that his blood-alcohol content was three times the legal limit for driving.

In a lawsuit filed late last month in Superior Court in Elizabeth, Sot’s parents fault the Landmark Americana as much as Lamar.

“From photos, witnesses and video surveillance, Lamar was intoxicated and otherwise impaired when the bartenders, servers and staff of Landmark […] continued to serve Lamar alcohol in violation of New Jersey’s Dramshop Laws,” the lawsuit from Sot's parents says.

The lawsuit says Lamar left the campus restaurant at closing time at 1:30 a.m. “visibly intoxicated and impaired.” Police said Lamar was passing vehicles on Route 31 near the campus and he was on the wrong side of the road when the cars collided.

In addition to the restaurant and Lamar, the lawsuit also names the restaurant’s owner, Nashin Worldwide, and unnamed bartenders as defendants. Court records did not list attorneys for any of the defendants on Tuesday and New Jersey 101.5 could not reach representatives for comment.

Michael Sot (via GoFundMe)

Prosecutors last month said Lamar told police that he had had two “twisted teas” and a shot, but investigators say video shows him drinking a multi-serving “fishbowl.”

Lamar was released from custody last month but remains under house arrest at his grandmother’s West Windsor home as he awaits trial.